László Papp, the Mayor of Debrecen, has called on the Chinese-owned Semcorp to cease its operations in the city and relocate its production elsewhere. The mayor announced his position in a video posted on Facebook.
“Semcorp’s activities are not welcome in Debrecen. We call on the company to end its operations in our city and move its production to another manufacturing site,” he said.
Papp stressed that the city does not wish to cooperate with any company that fails to comply with the regulations governing its operations.
“There is no place in Debrecen for a company that does not comply with the conditions of its permits and the rules that apply to its activities,” he said.
The mayor said he met personally with company representatives on Wednesday and informed them that Semcorp had lost the municipality’s trust and must leave the city. According to Papp, he had already warned the company in March that it must fully comply with all operational and environmental regulations or face serious consequences.
“Semcorp has broken every commitment it previously made. Therefore, I must declare that Semcorp’s activities are no longer welcome in Debrecen.”
Papp added that the municipality and its publicly owned companies will no longer cooperate with Semcorp and will not support any further expansion of the company’s operations in Debrecen. He also called on the company to work with the authorities and immediately begin the necessary environmental remediation.
On 24 June, the Hajdú-Bihar County Government Office suspended the operation of Semcorp’s battery separator film plant with immediate effect. According to the authority’s decision, the company had operated in violation of the conditions set out in its integrated environmental permit, resulting in environmental pollution and posing a risk to the environment.
The mayor described the suspension as “the last straw.”
